Washington May Force Russia To Close Another Consulate

Russia's artist Alexey Sergienko does a yoga pose next to his artwork depicting President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin in Saint Petersburg on July, 13, 2017. His painting depicts the hope most Russians felt for better relations with the United States. Hopes dashed. (Photo by OLGA MALTSEVA/AFP/Getty Images)

The Cold War-esque tit-for-tat between Russia and the United States continued. Following last month's increase of Russia sanctions, the Kremlin kicked a number of U.S. diplomats out of the capital city, hundreds to be exact, in order to equal the number of Russian diplomats currently serving in their foreign service here in the U.S. And now the U.S. government is considering shutting another Russian consulate office in order to equal the number of offices the U.S. has in Russia. Welcome to the third grade.

According to Kommersant, one of Russia's biggest business dailies, Russian diplomats said that they were told that one of their four consulates is on the chopping block. This makes sense because the U.S. has three consulate offices in Russia, including its Embassy in Moscow. Russia, meanwhile, has four consulates.

Vladimir Putin said that the ousting of American foreign service workers is a response to former president Obama's ousting of some 35 Russians believed to have interfered in the U.S. election somehow. To date, none of those officials names have come up as part of the collusion investigation, nor in leaked intel reports from the NSA, nor from the outsourced private intel services like Fusion GPS and CrowdStrike.

The U.S. said that Russia acted "heavy-handed", according to Kommersant's sources in Washington. This stands in stark contrast to Washington's extra-territorial sanctions against Russia. Major Russian companies, including privately held ones like LukOil, are banned from interacting with American oil and gas firms not only in Russia now, but around the world. This in comparison to a few hundred diplomats losing their jobs in retaliation for Washington doing exactly the same thing, only in a much smaller number.

To date, Russia has not announced any new economic sanctions on American businesses or individuals.

On July 28, the Russian authorities demanded the United States reduce its foreign staff to 455. That's how many people work in the diplomatic missions of the Russian Federation in the U.S. The current U.S. staff in Russia stands at 1,200 people, according to the Russian government.

On August 1, the U.S. Embassy turned over two pieces of Moscow real estate, a weekend getaway cottage in Serebryany Bor and a storage facility on Dorognaya Street in Moscow, according to Kommersant.

The diplomatic spat began in December after Obama ordered 35 Russian diplomats and their families out of the U.S. Washington also shuttered two pieces of Russian government owned real estate in New York and Washington.

Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak leaves a reception at the St. Regis Hotel on July 11, 2017 in Washington, DC. The U.S.-Russia Business Council hosted a farewell reception for Russia's top diplomat. (Photo by Alex Wong/Getty Images)

Russia's Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov said their counter-sanctions against the diplomatic corp was a response "to the anti-Russian orgy currently taking place in the American Congress." This goes against what Putin said, which was that their stripping of official diplomatic visa holders was a late response to Obama's actions.

Ryabkov became an unwilling famous name in November, just days after Trump's surprising victory over Hillary Clinton. He said that Russian officials were in touch with members of the Trump team.

"Obviously, we know most of the people from his (Trump's) entourage. Those people have always been in the limelight in the United States and have occupied high-ranking positions," he reportedly told Interfax on Nov. 10, according to a Reuters article. "I cannot say (with whom we met), but quite a few have been staying in touch with Russian representatives."

Russian Ambassador to the U.S. in Washington, Sergei Kislyak, became a household name when it was discovered that Trump's National Security Advisor, Michael Flynn, had met with him and did not disclose the encounter with Vice President Mike Pence.

The notion behind these encounters is whether Russians told the Trump team that they were breaking into DNC and John Podesta's email to provide anti-Hillary fodder, or whether there have been talks about agreed upon sanctions removal should Trump win the White House.

Attorney General Jeff Sessions also met with Kislyak, saying he did so in his normal routine as Senator. As a result of this discovery, Sessions recused himself from taking part in the Russian investigation currently being led by former FBI director Robert Mueller.